Android Phones

Ever met a girl so beautiful that you couldn’t wait to ask her out, only to discover that the beauty before you would be nothing but trouble? I’ve got a gnawing feeling that the Sony XPERIA X10 is such a beauty. Though the X10 looks like the first phone to make Android a real multimedia playback device, there are some other things working against the gorgeous device.

The Price Tag: Now I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…

The Swedes have a reputation for being one of the largest exporters of furniture, but owning an X10 may cost more than a trip to IKEA. CNNMoney reports that the XPERIA X10 will cost about 6,000 Swedish kronor, which converts to $868 USD, 586.934 EUR, and 524.445 GBP. My laptop didn’t even cost $868.

The Euro and British pound tend to be stronger than the US dollar, so that price-point may fly in Europe; however, the U.S. will be a different story. I can’t see any carrier providing much of a subsidy that would make the X10 affordable. Consumers will have the option of importing the X10 for use on AT&T or T-Mobile EDGE networks, but for nearly $900, I should be getting 3G and a free medical exam.

Who would have thought that the very thing that makes the X10 so incredible would also be its biggest potential headache? Sony Ericsson’s “User Xperience” (UX) custom interface for Android is incredible. I can’t be friends with anyone who thinks differently. However, we’ve seen with HTC’s Sense and Samsung’s TouchWiz that changing Android provides a hurdle to pushing updates to device owners. By the time the X10 hits stores, it will be running Android 1.6 (Donut). Meanwhile, Droid owners will have had 2.0 (Eclair) for nearly four months. The X10 will have a relatively outdated firmware and could miss out on new apps that require Eclair.

The Release Date: I don’t want to wait in vain for your love…

The X10 is supposed to debut in February. I know that’s the month of love, but November and December are the times when people really express their gadget love the most. The XPERIA X10 will miss out on the Holiday shopping season and debut at a time when plenty of people have already been wowed by the phones that are on the market. Where will…actually, I’ve just received word that the February release date isn’t so clear. The phone has been downgraded to “Coming soon,” meaning all the people between now and early 2010 who will be in the market for a new phone will miss out on a chance to own what could be the next big thing in Android. Why must you keep your love away from me, Sony?

Shortcomings that need to be addressed: You’re, too sexy for my hands…

Man this thing is pretty; a bit too pretty. It’s so pretty that you wonder if she’s ugly on the inside, and according to several early reviewers, she is ugly. People who have been able to get a hands-on view commonly say that the phone is “slow” and has a not-so-great keyboard. The hiccups have been visible in practically every non-simulated X10 video. This is to be expected because the Sense UI was troublesome when it debuted, but it improved over time (though there were still problems when it launched). Sony Ericsson has a few more months to work out the bugs and have the X10 optimized to live up to the hype, so we have to hope they can fix the problems in time to get this on the market soon. No one will be impressed by those pretty widgets if the phone performs poorly.

The Target Market: I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you…

This is the question that ties everything together: who will be left to purchase this phone? The X10 will be costly, outdated, late, and possibly have some pronounced flaws. Considering those factors, I have to wonder who will be left to buy it. Plenty of the hardcore technophiles will probably be impatient and upgrade to the Droid/Milestone or Hero before February or whatever mystery month the X10 debuts. The high price and luxury item lifestyle that SE is promoting will further limit its potential customer pool.

I’ve stated that the XPERIA X10 is my dream phone, which is why I’m willing to pay more than I typically spend on a phone. I just hope Sony Ericsson can deliver it the right way and in a timely manner that will make those dreams come true.

13 Comments

How does that thing's battery last more than 12 minutes? It's sure nice though. I've loved the couple/few Sony phones I've had. But you're right: No matter how beautiful a girl is, somewhere there's a man who's sick of her s***.

The phony is made by SE not HTC there will unlikely be a strong hacking community following the device. If you want an example look at rooting the Motorola Droid. I hate htc but I love the hacking community behind them aka xda developers. Before you choose your next device, lets see how far the Droid can get without strong support from the hacking community.

I think the biggest concern with the X10 is all of those things, but most importantly the fact that it's going to be running 1.6. That's just a joke. By the time the X10 rolls out, not only will 2.0 be in a lot more people's hands simply by the grace of the DROID, but also because HTC will have it underneath their Sense UI. So, even though SE announced the phone way too soon, they should be building their software with 2.0. And unless Google didn't let them, there isn't an excuse for giving early adopters of that phone (because you know someone out there is going to spend nearly $1,000 to get it) an out-dated OS.

6000 sek "in a shop" is 4800sek without VAT, or about 700usd. (Sweden has a 25% sales tax) Where I live, Norway, which also has a 25% VAT, the price of an unlocked iPhone 3GS 32gb is about 9995 nok, or 1770 usd. In other words, the X10 will probably be cheaper than an iPhone 3GS on contract in the US. Most Americans seems quite unaware that they pay a lot for their "99usd iPhone" – it is the extra monthly cost which is important, not the starting price. At least in Norway the total price – the minimum cost for as long as the phone is locked to a particular kind of subscription is always stated together with the "starting price" of the phone. For the 32GB 3GS the total price is 15 599 nok, or 2765usd, I'm sure it is not much less in Sweden.

@Erik, you're right about Americans not understanding that in most cases, extra fees are actually entangled with the price of the phone (especially when it comes to their precious iPhones), but to be honest, most of them don't care. Phones are expensive, this is a fundamental truth, and so if someone sees that a phone costs $449 out-right without a contract, and only $99 (after $100 mail-in rebate) with a 2-year contract, they'll jump on it. Why? Because it was cheaper right from the start. Never mind the extra cost of data that that person will probably end up adding, or whatever else.

Erik, that's true, but our phones usually aren't that expensive off contract. Don't quote me on this, but I haven't seen an Android phone top $600 USD off contract, and most phones with a subsidy are about $200-$250. Considering that, I doubt (but pray that I'm wrong) a US carrier would subsidize it enough to make it affordable.

Andrew, I'm going out on a limb here and saying you're right about that. Even the iPhone 3G's retail was topped at $700; and that was through Apple. Sure, other retailers hiked that up, but why wouldn't they? People would pay for it. As for a carrier here in the States, unless it's true that T-Mobile is picking this phone up, I don't see any of them adopting this device. AT&T is a huge participant in the SE phone legion, but I can't picture them bringing Android onto their market with the X10.